Name
Roland Winters
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1904-11-22
Deathday
1989-10-22 (85 years old)
Place of Birth
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Biography
Roland Winters (born Roland Winternitz) was an American actor who played many character parts in films and television but today is best remembered for portraying Charlie Chan in six films in the late 1940s.
Monogram Pictures eventually selected Winters to replace Sidney Toler in the Charlie Chan film series. Winters was 44 when he made the first of his six Chan films, The Chinese Ring in 1947 and ending with Charlie Chan and the Sky Dragon (also known as Sky Dragon) in 1949. His other Chan films were "Docks of New Orleans", "Shanghai Chest", "The Golden Eye" and "The Feathered Serpent". He also had character roles in three other feature films while he worked on the Chan series.
Yunte Huang, in Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, noted differences in the actors' appearances, especially that Winters' "tall nose simply could not be made to look Chinese." Huang also cited the actor's age, writing, "at the age of forty-four, he also looked too young to resemble a seasoned Chinese sage."
In contrast to Huang, Ken Hanke wrote in his book, Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism, "Roland Winters has never received his due ... Winters brought with him a badly needed breath of fresh air to the series." He cited "the richness of the approach and the verve with which the series was being tackled" during the Winters era." Similarly, Howard M. Berlin, in his book, Charlie Chan's Words of Wisdom, commented that "Winters brought a much needed breath of fresh air to the flagging film series with his self-mocking, semi-satirical interpretation of Charlie, which is very close to the Charlie Chan in Biggers' novels."
After the series finished, Winters continued to work in film and television until 1982. He was in the movies So Big and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, played Elvis' father in Blue Hawaii and a judge in the Elvis film Follow That Dream. He made appearances as the boss on the early TV series Meet Millie as the boss and the courtroom drama Perry Mason. In one episode of the Bewitched TV series, he played the normally unseen McMann of McMann and Tate. He also portrayed Mr. Gimbel in Miracle on 34th Street in 1973.
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- 1948 Cry of the City as Ledbetter
- 1956 Bigger Than Life as Dr. Ruric
- 1950 The Underworld Story as Stanley Becker
- 1950 Convicted as Vernon Bradley, Attorney
- 1950 Between Midnight and Dawn as Leo Cusick
- 1949 Malaya as Bruno Gruber
- 1961 Blue Hawaii as Fred Gates
- 1949 A Dangerous Profession as Jerry 'Mac' McKay
- 1948 Docks of New Orleans as Charlie Chan
- 1953 So Big as Klaas Pool
- 1950 The West Point Story as Harry Eberhart
- 1947 The Chinese Ring as Charlie Chan
- 1957 Jet Pilot as Col. Sokolov
- 1948 The Shanghai Chest as Charlie Chan
- 1949 Sky Dragon as Charlie Chan
- 1948 The Feathered Serpent as Charlie Chan
- 1948 The Golden Eye as Charlie Chan
- 1950 Killer Shark as Jeffrey White
- 1979 You Can't Go Home Again as Judge Bland
- 1957 Top Secret Affair as Sen. Burdick
- 1952 She's Working Her Way Through College as Fred Copeland
- 1950 To Please a Lady as Dwight Barrington
- 1948 The Return of October as Colonel Wood
- 1949 Once More, My Darling as Col. Head
- 1951 Raton Pass as Sheriff Perigord
- 1959 Never Steal Anything Small as Doctor
- 1949 Tuna Clipper as E.J. Ransom
- 1951 Follow the Sun as Dr. Graham
- 1961 Everything's Ducky as Capt. Bollinger
- 1961 A String of Beads
- 1973 Miracle on 34th Street as Mr. Gimbel
- 1951 Inside Straight as Alexander Tomson
- 1948 Kidnapped as Capt. Hoseason
- 1950 Guilty of Treason as Soviet Comissar Belov
- 1970 Loving as Plommie
- 1960 Cash McCall as Gen. Andrew Danvers
- 1941 Citizen Kane as Newspaperman at Trenton Town Hall (uncredited)
- 1950 Sierra Passage as Sam Cooper
- 1960 The Computer Comes to Marketing as Ned
- 1950 Captain Carey, U.S.A. as Manfredo Acuto
- 1962 Follow That Dream as Judge
- 1949 Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff as T. Hanley Brooks
- 1962 Big Deal in Laredo as Henry Drummond
- 1969 Doc as Watkins
- 1964 Archie as Mr. Weatherbee
- 1964 Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. ( 1 episode ) as Dan Merrill
- 1959 Play of the Week ( 1 episode )
- 1964 The Addams Family ( 1 episode ) as Ralph J. Hulen
- 1961 The Defenders ( 1 episode ) as Jeff Brubaker
- 1962 The Lucy Show ( 1 episode ) as Dean Bennett
- 1973 Adam's Rib ( 1 episode ) as Judge Ransom
- 1957 Perry Mason ( 1 episode ) as Archer Bryant
- 1967 The Carol Burnett Show ( 1 episode ) as Various Characters
- 1962 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ( 1 episode ) as Ivar West
- 1950 Lux Video Theatre ( 1 episode ) as General Millet
- 1950 Lux Video Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Greenleaf
- 1956 Broken Arrow ( 1 episode ) as James Perry
- 1964 Bewitched ( 1 episode ) as McMann
- 1947 Kraft Television Theatre ( 1 episode )
- 1960 The Iceman Cometh ( 2 episodes ) as The General (Piet Wetjoen)
- 1978 The Dain Curse ( 2 episodes ) as Hubert Collinson
- 1959 Startime ( 1 episode ) as Fannington
- 1950 The Jack Benny Program ( 1 episode ) as General Sneed #1
- 1951 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars ( 1 episode ) as Boss
